Topic: Heat

Neil Gaiman once wrote that writers are liars. I respectfully disagree. Writers, like most people, are salesmen. Michael Jordan certainly is. He sold the idea that winning could bring happiness, that work was art and mattered more than life itself. The problem is he bought his own sales pitch. We all did.

Before Chicago ended it, the Miami Heat's winning streak created enough excitement that ESPN picked up an Orlando Magic game. In March. So why does it seem like we weren't particularly impressed, or worse, just don't care?

By standard NBA logic, the Oklahoma City Thunder should not be where they are today. In a league where experience is seen as a prerequisite for success, the Thunder have dispatched three veteran-laden West contenders with a young core of four players aged 23 or younger. It’s an accomplishment unprecedented in this era, and the NBA world has bought into the youth movement due to their success. Where that puts the Thunder in the typical NBA championship narrative is unclear.

Typically, we accept that even the most accomplished athletes can only do so much. LeBron James has a different kind of problem: he is always competing against himself, or what we know he can do. There's an imperative there for LeBron James for rule the sport. Acquire the bomb and you best come correct, as they say.

No one will give a shit about LeBron James in 100 years. The upside of eternity for LeBron, apart from the trust funds he leaves behind for his great-great-grandchildren, is death. But the same thing is true for Cleveland. Featuring a Q&A with Scott Raab.